


under a sheet of rain in my heart

by kaitlynlullabee



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A little bit of angst, Clint is sick of centenarian bullshit, Fluff, M/M, Pokemon, Steve is soft for Bucky, bucky is soft, everyone is happy and healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29188674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitlynlullabee/pseuds/kaitlynlullabee
Summary: Bucky and Steve find solace and peace, and maybe that includes riling up fellow Avengers just for fun. They're over a hundred years old, they deserve a little levity.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	under a sheet of rain in my heart

"Gengar is bae," Bucky said, tone brooking no argument.

"One, you're over a hundred, do not say bae. Two, you're fuckin' wrong, Gengar isn't even top 5," Clint said, flinching away from Bucky's backhanded slap.

"Gengar is lit af, brah, Gengar is bae, Gengar is life," Bucky rebutted, grinning crookedly and leaning toward Clint to playfully smack him some more.

"Eugh, get away from me, I can't even look at you," Clint said, shoving Bucky's Switch away from him and leaving to go find peace, presumably. Bucky's laughter followed him out of the communal living room.

"What the fuck is a Gengar?" Steve asked, eyebrows pinched in confusion even as his eyes sparkled with fondness.

Instead of answering, Bucky picked up the abandoned game system and tilted the screen toward Steve. A giant, purple monster grinned up at him, eyes red and teeth way too unnerving to reconcile with the other Pokemon Steve had seen and thought were cute.

"What the fuck," Steve said, tapping the screen to see Gengar move and ask for pets. 

"Gengar is bae," Bucky said again, solemnly.

"Why this one? There's tons of cuter ones…"

Bucky's eyes cut away from Steve's face and it tugged something almost century old in Steve's chest, that ingrained protectiveness Steve has always felt for Bucky.

"She learned the move Dream Eater," Bucky said softly. 

Steve got up and forced himself in between Bucky and the arm of the couch, getting as much of himself against Bucky's body as he could even as Bucky rolled his eyes and scoffed and was generally unhelpful.

"Does she eat your dreams?" Steve asked, settling heavy against Bucky's left arm and resting his head in the crook of Bucky's neck to watch his lover play the game.

"Just the bad ones," Bucky admitted, resting his chin on Steve's head and throwing a ball for the round purple monster.

"Gengar is bae," Steve said, grinning when he heard Clint's pained groan from the kitchen. 

A week later Steve and Bucky's quarters were littered with round, purple plushes. It started when Steve found the biggest one he could, soft and squishy. She was nearly 18 inches tall and at least twice that around, and when Bucky pulled her out of the box his eyes shone and he grinned almost as wide as the Pokemon.

"What an absolute unit," he said, quietly awed even as Clint shouted in indignation and left the room.

She spent nights tucked up against the headboard in their bedroom. Steve thought it was eerie how she grinned in the low light but it was absolutely worth risking her stare with the way Bucky lit up from within when he saw her. If her presence had a sort of placebo effect on Bucky's nightmares, then Steve was doubly grateful for it.

Almost overnight more of the purple monstrosities filled their apartment. There was one in every room, now, and they began creeping out into the communal spaces, though Steve thought maybe that was mostly because Natasha and Bucky liked ganging up on Clint.

A line of little round plushies guarded over Bucky while he napped on the daybed tucked into the windowsill. One hid behind the coffee in the pantry, another tucked on the shelf above Steve's razor kit in the medicine cabinet. More iterations, or  _ evolutions _ as Steve had been corrected, began appearing, too. Little gas clouds and sinister ghosts with creepy hands settled themselves between the books on the bookshelves. 

Natasha took it a step further and began sending Bucky all the pokemon who could learn the move Dream Eater, so there were adorable little armies of Gardevoir and Shiinotic added to the manic obsession that had become their apartment.

It had become a relatively common occurrence for Bucky to have packages or presents addressed to him, so when Bucky pressed a package addressed to him into his hands, it took Steve by surprise. He opened the cardboard box, a grin overtaking his face.

"Really?" Steve asked softly, touched and fond and more in love than ever.

"Well, obviously.  _ Pangoro is a cantankerous Pokémon, but it has a strong heart and doesn't forgive those who pick on the weak, _ " Bucky read from his phone. "A Pokemon that's huge, hates bullies and is always ready to fight? That's you, sunshine."

Steve tucked his new friend under his arm and reeled his lover in with the other.

"Wait, that's not the only one!" Bucky chastised, laughing as he dug a smaller pokemon out of the box. "Pangoro is you, if you were a pokemon, but this one… she can learn Rest, just for you."

Steve stared at the small Jigglypuff figure in Bucky's hand, his heart hammering away in his chest. There had been a time when they were worried it would never do it properly, never pump normally, but almost a hundred years later and Steve was healthier than ever and Bucky, well… well… Bucky was here, and alive, and slowly recovering with the help of some excellent doctors and about a billion purple ghost monsters.

"Rest?"

"Yeah, Stevie. Rest."

Steve nodded, taking the Jigglypuff figure in his too-large hand. "Let's start now," he suggested, tugging Bucky toward the daybed. He set Jigglypuff on the shelf highest above them, watching them with her wide eyes. He could use some rest, just like Bucky could use some of his dreams eaten.

He hauled Bucky onto the bed with him, arranging them comfortably in the afternoon sun. Pangoro made an excellent pillow, Steve thought as he tucked some of Bucky's errant hair behind his ear.

"Which should we get for the others?" Bucky asked, voice rumbly and warm and slightly mischievous, and Steve grinned back at him, a plan already cooking up in his head.

"I have some ideas, but right now Jiggly is telling me to Rest."

Bucky tangled their fingers together between them, closing his eyes and smiling when Steve pressed a kiss to his forehead.


End file.
